Rather than cast Spells
or work some other form of Magic on the spur of the moment, Runecrafters instead
inscribe special symbols upon objects or even living creatures that invest
the inscribed object or person with Magical capabilities. Runecrafters
particularly excel at the crafting of Magic Items, and are often well
equipped
individuals. They also excel at warding buildings and areas with protective
Runes, making them excellent on the defense as well.

This reliance on Magic that is not castable at need makes for a challenging and
intriguing type of Magic User.

Focus

Runecrafters learn the
secrets of Magical Runes that represent potent Magical effects when
inscribed on various Media. As their careers progress, Runecrafters typically
build up their repertoire of Known Runes, their ability to work with
different Media, and a collection of potent Magic Items which can make them
fearsome opponents and valuable allies.

A player can expect
their Runecrafter to progress slower than some other professions due to the
Experience Point costs involved in making Permanent Magic Items, but to compensate
their Magic System costs very few Character Points compared to other Magic
using professions, allowing them to have
excess Experience Points to spend on the crafting of Magic Items.

Means to Power

Each Runecrafter learns how to inscribe
specific Runes which are represented by one point Familiarities,
which they can then inscribe upon objects of various Media which are
represented by Professional Skills such as Carving and Engraving relevant to
particular material types.

In theory Runecrafters can apply any Rune
they know to any Media they have the appropriate Professional Skill for, but
most Runes can only be inscribed upon particular Media.

Runecrafters use these Runes to make both
powerful "Permanent" Magic Items and temporary "Ephemeral" effects. It takes
much longer to inscribe Runes that result in Permanent Magic Items, while
the time to inscribe Runes that result Ephemeral effects is usually measured
in hours. Thus a Runecrafter
might spend weeks crafting a Magical weapon, or suit of armor, or mystic
sigil to be incorporated into a structure that will last for ages, or a few
hours inscribing a Rune holding a temporary effect such as a Glyphic Trap instead.

Many Runic effects are intended to operate
unattended and make heavy use of self-resetting Triggers and when necessary
Detects usable by those Triggers. Due to this Runic effects are especially
useful for the crafting of Magical Traps and Wards and many Runecrafters
make a very good living specializing in doing just that.

More physical or militant Runecrafters tend
to take advantage of the ability to craft customized magical weapons and
armor for themselves or to adorn themselves with Runic Tattoos that augment
their physical capabilities to render them extremely effective as warriors.

More adventuresome Runecrafters can take
advantage of Ephemeral Runes to create any number of useful charged effects
that they can employ at need much as some other sorts of Magic users might
use a Wand or Ring, resulting in more of a "gadgeteer" style of character.

RUNE FAMILIARITIES

Rune Familiarities are the most important
aspect of Runecrafters. The number and variety of Runes a Runecrafter knows
is the sole determiner of how successful they are at their chosen
profession.

MEDIA SKILLS

Second in importance only to Rune
Familiarities are Media Skills. The selection of Media Skills and level of
competence a particular Runecrafter has will make an enormous difference in
their "feel" and capabilities. For instance a Runecrafter adept at
PS: Carving will work differently in
play than a Runecrafter that is adept at
PS: Embroidery and
PS: Calligraphy.

A Runecrafter should take care to keep
their Media Skills of choice at a level appropriate to their overall
competence. For Runecrafters with many Media Skills All Skill and Overall
Skill Levels are very efficient.

It is also important to remember that a
Runecrafter can use their Media Skills for mundane purposes as well; a
Runecrafter skilled at Tattooing can make high quality normal tattoos as
well as Magic Runic Tattoos.

OTHER ABILITIES

There are also some ancillary abilities that are
not required but are certainly beneficial to a Runecrafter.

ANCILLARY SKILLS

Though not necessary, there are several
other Skills that can be beneficial to a Runecrafter, and can be used as
Complementary Skills where appropriate.

RELATED SKILLS OF POTENTIAL USE TO
A RUNECRAFTER

PS: Create Inks;
Real Cost: 2 points

PS: Mason; Real Cost: 2 points

PS: Make Paper; Real Cost: 2 points

PS: Tailor; Real Cost: 2 points

PS: Carpentry

KS: Inks; Real Cost 3 points

KS: Cloth; Real Cost: 3 points

KS: Paper & Parchment; Real Cost: 3
points

KS: Wood Lore; Real Cost: 3
points

KS: Stone Lore; Real Cost: 3
points

KS: Metallurgy; Real Cost: 3
points

MAGESIGHT

It is not a requirement, but many
Runecrafters take some version of the Magesight ability described in Fantasy HERO for
5th Edition.

AWAKENED

Awakened: Magesight, Discriminatory, Range, Sense;

Real Cost: 17
points

RUNESENSE

Alternately a Runecrafter might have a more
specific ability to detect Symbols, Runes, and Glyphs.

Runecrafting does not have
"Specialists" per se, but most Runecrafters have a chosen Media which is
either the only one they know or receives quite a bit of focus from them.
Also, some Runecrafters prefer to focus on Permanent Runes while
others focus on Ephemeral Runes.

RUNEFORGERS

The most common "specialty" among Runecrafters are those
typically called Runeforgers, who are weapon and/or armor smiths and make
Permanent Magic Items from the ground up, starting with raw materials and
ending with a finished product bearing a Permanent Rune.

Runeforgers are typically
skilled Blacksmiths, Weaponsmiths, or Armorsmiths in addition to their
skills as Runecrafters, and they typically concentrate on PS: Engraving to
work with their Media of choice, metal.

ILLUMIN

Another common "specialty" among Runecrafters are those
called Illumin who specialize in Tattooing Runes upon themselves to gain
numerous powerful Magical Powers.

Illumin usually parade around either mostly unclothed or
in clothing they can shed quickly to expose their tattoos so that they may
take effect.

A Runecrafter may attempt to learn any
Rune they encounter if they have an unspent Experience point to pay for it
and can make a KS: Runecrafting Skill. It
takes one Hour per 10 Active Points in a Rune of dedicated study, at the end of which a
Runecrafter must make a KS: Runecrafting Skill Roll with a penalty equal to -1/10 Real Cost in
the Rune to successfully learn a Rune.

If the Skill Roll is successful
then the Runecrafter character pays for a Familiarity with that Rune and
adds it to their character sheet. If the Skill Roll is failed the
Runecrafter may not try to learn that Rune again until their KS: Runecrafting
Skill is at least +1 better.

EXAMPLE: Gruarg the
Runecrafter wants to learn Vorsag's Rune of Entrapping, a 90 AP/20 RC Ephemeral Rune.
Gruarg has KS: Runecrafting 15- and 2 Overall Levels for a modified 17-. He must
study the Rune for 9 Hours and then make a KS: Runecrafting Roll with a -2
penalty, for a 15-
Roll. Succeeding at the Skill Roll allows Gruarg's player to add Rune
Familiarity: Vorsag's Rune of Entrapping to Gruarg's character sheet.

One of the most gratifying tasks a
Runecrafter might accomplish is the creation of a new Rune unique to
themselves. Runecrafters generally name their Runes after themselves, and
many Runes gain a fame all their own, being used for centuries and affording
their creator a kind of immortality.

To create a Rune a Runecrafter must have at least one
unspent Experience point to pay for a Familiarity with the Rune if they are
successful.

INABILITY TO CREATE NEW RUNES

This option is in
effect in my campaigns

By default, any Runecrafter can create their own
Runes. If for some reason a
particular type of Runecrafter cannot make their own Runes, they may take a
Physical Limitation Disadvantage indicating this.

For starters determine if the Rune
will be an Ephemeral or Permanent Rune.

2) DETERMINE DESIGN OF RUNE OR
RUNIC MAGIC ITEM

Next design the Ephemeral Rune or
Permanent Rune (as a Magic Item) using the Power creation rules in the HERO
System 5th Edition Rulebook, conforming to the guidelines set forth in this
document.

RESEARCH & EXPERIMENTATION

Once the new Rune design has been defined and agreed upon
with the GM, in-game the Runecrafter must conduct Research
& Experimentation equal to
one Hour per Total
Active Points in the
Rune.
The Runecrafter must have appropriate materials for Research
& Experimentation (R&E),
which is left to the GM's discretion, but typically consists of enough raw
material to practice prototypes of the new Rune on all the Media the Runecrafter is able to
inscribe upon. Some of these necessary materials
may be quite expensive or not, at the GM's discretion.

During this time, the Runecrafter must make a KS: Runecrafting check after every
10 Hours of Research &
Experimentation at a -1 penalty per 10 Real Cost of the Rune. The 10 Hours of a
particular segment don't have to be consecutive; a Runecrafter could allocate a
few hours per day and make the necessary Skill Roll after 10 Hours has been
accumulated for instance.

A Runecrafter can recover from a failed Skill Roll by repeating the 10 Hour
segment of time and rolling again, but if the second Skill Roll is failed the
Runecrafter's attempt at creation is a bust and they may not try again until
their KS: Runecrafting is at least +1 better than it currently is, and also must
start the entire process of R&E over.

EXAMPLE: Gruarg
decides it is time to make his own Rune. He decides he will design a Rune that
represents a Permanent Runic Magic Item, a Rune of Anti-Scrying

It will take Gruarg 120 Hours of Research & Experimentation
to create this powerful new Rune, which breaks down to twelve 10 hour increments
of R&E, requiring a KS:
Runecrafting Roll at a -2 penalty after each. If
Gruarg makes all twelve KS: Runecrafting Rolls then he has
successfully created the new Rune. Gruarg he must pay 1 Experience point for Familiarity
with the Rune.

I MADE THIS BONUS

A Runecrafter gains a flat +5 bonus when inscribing any Ephemeral or Permanent Rune that they themselves created.

Further, in the case of Permanent Runes, a Runecrafter does
not need to conduct Research & Experimentation to create a Magic Item with a
Rune they themselves created; the R&E time spent creating the Rune covers for
this.

Because of this bonus it is sometimes worthwhile for a Runecrafter to go thru
the process of creating a Rune even if it is to copy a Rune that is already in
existance if they have the time and resources available to do so. This is
effectively the same as "reverse engineering" a Rune.

EXAMPLE: Gruarg finds a Rune inscribed in an ancient subteranean
holdfast. He can either just learn the Rune using the guidelines for Learning a
Rune given previously, or spend 10 times as long and attempt to recreate the
Rune himself via independent R&E.